OptiSeis Solutions has completed a low-impact 3D seismic survey along the McLaren Lake Fault Zone at Canuc Resources’ East Sudbury Project in Ontario, Canada.
The programme acquired approximately 13.5 km of seismic data along existing roads to minimise environmental disturbance and disruption to local communities. Field operations were completed in seven days.
The acquisition design used 1,355 autonomous nodal sensors and two IVI Minivibrators. More than 2700 source points were recorded across the array to create a high-density subsurface dataset covering the northern section of the fault zone.
Natural Resources Canada complemented the surface survey by acquiring a vertical seismic profile using fibre-optic cables installed in three centrally located boreholes. Integrating the surface seismic and borehole datasets is expected to improve subsurface imaging and support the interpretation of geological structures associated with mineralisation.
Field acquisition services were provided by Echo Seismic. Eleven personnel supported the surface programme, with two additional Natural Resources Canada specialists working on the fibre-optic VSP acquisition.
Canuc plans to use the resulting dataset to identify and prioritise exploration targets near historical copper and gold workings along the McLaren Lake Fault Zone. The company is targeting mineral systems with the potential to host iron oxide copper-gold and related critical- and precious-metal deposits.
The seismic interpretation will be integrated with an upcoming property-wide gravity gradiometry survey covering the four principal fault structures that cross the 20,078-hectare East Sudbury property.
Located approximately 20 km northeast of the Sudbury mining district, the project includes the historical Scadding gold mine and several recognised centres of critical- and precious-metal mineralisation.
Image credit: Canuc Resources
